Don't You Remember?
by Retro-7
Summary: Neah was never a master of subtlety.


A/N: Take place after Neah's encounter with the Earl, Wisely, and Tyki

* * *

Don't You Remember?

* * *

Neah hated being in this situation. A situation, he admits he caused. He expected things to change when he came back; It'd be naive and idiotic not to. However it still made his stomach ache.

"Any idea what happened, you good-for-nothing puppet?", Neah lifted his left hand and it pulsed with pain. He chuckled at the response.

"You know I could destroy you right this minute.", the pain grew worse, a gentle little reminder that the innocence could do the same. Neah's grin grew wider.

"May I ask what happened to _**my**_ Allen? The one with the long flowing red hair? The one with large circular spectacles, who always kept it half covered with his bangs. The brilliant pursuer of knowledge who willfully asked _**me**_ to use him as a host?", the weapon stayed quiet. The 14th didn't expected an answer anyway but it didn't stop him from feeling disappointed. He crumpled his hand into a tight fist and slammed it to the brick wall next to him. He knew it wouldn't do anything but give him a sore hand, but he wanted to feel like he did something to the innocence.

"You're no savior yourself... You innocents use humans as resources. Sooner or later you were going to kill Walker. I just happened to beat you to it.", he paused for a response that would never come. Crown Clown may had some semblance of sentients but it was a far cry from Apocryphos.

He sighed. The only few he knew had the answers were either dead or indisposed. If the bookman wasn't dead he could kidnap him-damn- but he didn't know where he could've gone.

He played with the broken bracelet in deep thought thumbing the wrecked pegs mindlessly.

Earlier in the day he had managed to squirm out of Link's supervision but gotten a nasty surprise in the form of an electric shock that scared the crap out of him. It took a moment for Neah to regain his senses, but as soon as he did he slammed the device against the floor again and again, before taking his foot and kicked it with all his might slitting the machine down the seem. The cuff shocked Neah one last time sending the noah's nerves haywire. He wailed at the intense pain as his mouth frothed up. If it was any other human the shock would've been a death sentence- but Neah wasn't a normal human. His limbs twitched and his whole being felt like jello, an extremely unpleasant feeling to Neah, and after several minutes passed he finally had control of his body again. The device was still cuffed to his wrist but it would no longer bother the noah anymore. Thank God.

"Man, Allen what type of psychos do you hang out with.", the irony was not lost on Neah as he tugged at the cuff some more before getting back up.

He walked away with a limp and an awful headache… speaking of headaches, he wondered what Wisely and the rest of the noahs are going to do next. With the Earl out of commission until he could pull himself together the noah family was without a patriarch, meaning either the noahs were going to stay low or have another member fill in for the maker. But the boy could care less at the moment. He had been on edge since his last encounter with the Millennium Earl because afterwards there hadn't been any akumas popping up to attack. Each day was calm and… normal. And it freaked and confused the 14th out.

Link had called him an idiot for taunting the noahs while in the state he was in but the effects was more beneficial than he expected. However at the same time he didn't know how to handle the quiet. Maybe the Earl was too exhausted, or maybe the noahs were putting distance between Neah and the Earl, or maybe they had other things to deal with than a doomed traitor.

The Earl doesn't remember what happened 35 years ago...  
Allen doesn't remember what happened 35 years ago…

It wasn't like it would matter. He had already taken over his host and he's hell bent on killing the Earl. So why did it mattered so much. Maybe the answer would come to him… but at the same time he couldn't will himself to actually care.

His stomach rumbled loudly snapping the 14th out of his trance and making several people stare at him in confusion not believing such a monstrous growl came from the small teen. A blush covered Neah's face as he excused himself from the crowd. He dug through his pockets until he realized something. He left most of his belonging with Link. Now that he thought about it his dash to escape the man had been impulsive and split second. He didn't really thought of what to do after that. He had just wanted some air honestly.

Thankfully digging into his shirt pocket yielded a harmonica. He always had it with him and used it from time to time to ease off boredom much to Link's irritation. But now hopefully the instrument would land him lunch. He sat down on a street corner, took off his coat, and laid it in front of him and began playing. It attracted a crowd instantly and were memorized them by the noah's talent. Bills and coins began piling up until two hours later when his starving body couldn't take anymore. He ended his song and the crowd clapped and complimented him as they dispersed. He gathered his coat and pocketed his earnings leaving without another word.

He looked around for anything cheap-cheap food meant he could get more of it- and with an arm that was low key actively trying to kill him by depleting his energy he needed every bit of food he could get. He stopped when an all too familiar feeling of dark energy entered his field. There was an akuma near-by. He smirked. Finally maybe now he could get some action; Neah felt like he would die of boredom during the last few days.  
He quickly found the akuma in the crowd of people, but she hid her face and turned her back to the noah when she realized he spotted her.

"Hey!", Neah called out but the akuma began to walk faster.

"Stop. And come here. I want to ask you something.", the young "woman" halted at the command and slowly walked over to the 14th like she was walking to her personal gallow.

"Hello there~, do you know any good restaurants around here? Preferably something cheap.", Neah charmingly smiled.

"I heard good things about Lenny's Cove it's an all you can eat buffet near the corner of Cowley lane …", she said in a low voice. She inched further and further away trying to distance herself from the enemy noah.

"Ah, thank you so much!~", Neah grinned wide and cheerful. The Akuma quickly nodded her head yelping a "you're welcome", and turned to walk away before the 14th spoke again.

"Wait, I want to ask another thing!", she faced him again slightly trembling, clearly uncomfortable with the situation she was in.

"Yes sir.", Neah caressed the akuma's cheek and leaned in. The akuma blushed and leaned back but Neah was still only a hair's breaths away from her face.

"Don't you remember?", a single bloody tear dripped down the woman's left eye.

"Oh it seems you're bleeding. Allergies I presume?", the 14th reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a handkerchief and handed it to her as she hesitantly accepted.

"Yeah… allergies…", she wiped the blood away meekly.

"Well I let you on your merry way. Sorry to keep you waiting.", Neah waved a goodbye.

"No, it's no problem, Master Noah.", Neah stared at her shocked and the akuma trembled sensing the aura surrounding the 14th at her slip up.

"I-"

"No, just go. Well, see you soon.~", the akuma ran off without another word.

He sighed. It seemed like the akumas were in no mood to fight him, not without the Earl's orders it seems. Oh well, at least he had somewhere to go for a meal. His good vibes were trashed however when a certain blonde came and sucked all the joy he had at the moment.

"14th!", Link shouted as he ran down the street with Johnny trying to keep up. Shit, well his free time was fun while it lasted, besides the whole almost dying from electrocution, starving for the last couple of hours, and getting leg cramps from sitting on the ground for so long.

"Link!", Neah shouted back sarcastically.

"Where were you!", the blonde looked like he was going to blow a fuse but managed to keep his voice calm and his anger contained.

"I went for a walk. It was a beautiful day so why waste it in a drab motel? Don't worry I wasn't running away. I was going to come back- you know, when I felt like coming back.", Neah smirked.

Link managed to calm himself down after a few deep breaths. He learned some time ago that the 14th liked riling people up and getting him angry was exactly his end goal. And he'd be damned if he'll let Neah play him like a fool, a tool yes, but not his plaything.

"Guys, I'm starving. I know a cheap all-you-can eat buffet down at Cowley's lane we should go.", he laughed and patted Johnny's back making the scientist nervous.

"But you guys are paying for your own though.", the noah quickly added with a blank tone.

* * *

 **" _Don't you remember?"_** , the Earl shot up from his bed his normally neat, slick back hair was wild and unkept and his skin was moist with sweat, his breathing was erratic and shaky. His grip on his blanket looked like he would rip it to shreds. His eyes frantically scanned around the room and next to the bed was Wisely in a chair. There were dark bags under his eyes and his clothes and hair were disheveled.

"What's wrong, Earl?", Wisely asked softly as he slowly approached him like wounded animal.

"How long was I sleeping?!", he demanded.

"A few days, sir. Please, go back to sleep. You're not well enough to be out of bed.", the noah of wisdom tried to pacify the Earl but he pushed his hand off of his shoulder.

"No! Gather the Akumas and- Erk!", he felt a sharp pain in his chest and gripped it with his hands and gritted his teeth. His vision blurred before he fell back into a coma. Sighing heavily Wisely pulled his blanket over his torso and wiped his forehead with a damp towel. The boy grimaced at the state the Earl was in. It had been really rough for the whole family to see their leader in such a way and the clan was holding on by a thread at this point.

If he were to venture a guess he would blame the 14th for the Earl's freakout. _Damn him,_ Wisely spitefully thought. _Why couldn't he just drop dead and disappear forever._

* * *

 **A/N:** I feel like I wrote this 5 time already, oh well. I wanted to get back to writing fanfics after a pretty tough semester so I wrote another one shot to get my head in the game. I'm probably gonna do more of these quick one shots as exercise. If you have some suggest it would be very much appreciated.  
On a sidenote, is it me or do I have two modes when it comes to writing Neah? Sympathetic, anti-villain who has reasons to do the things he did and trashlord douchebag. Right now i'm in the mood for trashlord. Idk whenever I really love a character I like to think about what other facets that character might have or how extreme their personalities are.  
Double side note, I like to think Neah still has power over the akumas even though he defected. After all he is still a noah and it's in their instincts to obey the noahs. The akumas would still obey him but not over the Earl's order.

((Maybe I shouldn't added that last paragraph with the Millennium Earl-Bleh))


End file.
